Wednesday 18/09/2013 - Amalgamation Summer League - Round Six - Pawlett Ponds

One of the advantages of fishing Pawlett Ponds is that it is just over the road from the Hill Top café so there were a few of us in there is morning all acknowledging that the fishing was going to be hard. For me I do like a change and can do hard from time to time and gets me away from the Carp racing.

 

Pawlett ponds is certainly a nice place to spend a day fishing, although it does needs some renovation and some stocking. Lake Four looks to me as one of the better stocked lakes but suffers from dilapidated platforms that cannot be fished due to safety concerns limiting it to 2 pegs. Andy Smith tells me that the Amalgamation is planning to refurbish the platforms and stock some 1,000 Skimmers. Hopefully in time for next years series.

 

After picking some Blackberries which there are abundance for the “Special one” to do a Mary Berry pie it was in to the draw bag and out comes peg 16 which is in the far corner on the venue on Lake Three.

 

Arriving at the peg it can only be described as a Mr Crabtree peg. A fallen Hawthorn to my right margin and Sedges infest end bank. Bound to catch a carp or two here you think. For company I had the back of Mike Jones (pictured right with Andy Smiths umbrella in the far distance on Lake One - is this not a great place to fish) who had drawn the corner peg of Lake Two.

 

I initially only set up a paste rig which would do for any swim I choose as it was all 5 foot deep even up to the sedges. Because of the wind blowing the sedges I couldn’t get as close as I would have liked. Mike Jones then reminded me that the league pays out both silvers and overall with no default so you can win both. So up went the Ronnie rig and a 4x 16 Jolly.

 

Believe it or not I could not get an indication on the paste nor were their any signs of Carp throughout the match. So no more narrative on the Carp and paste, except I did spend far too much time trying to catch what wasn’t there! So lucky I set up the Silvers rigs.

 

I fed a ball of GB laced with a few maggots at 7 metres at 1 o clock and had a few Ronnie’s on maggot on the jolly and by switching between this and the Ronnie rig kept a few Rudd coming that was until the bloody Motherless Minnows arrived in their droves. I tried feeding loosing GB down the side to try and attract them away but alas there were just too many. So I put plan C in to action which was to fish for Eels. So in went a pot of CW&M with big piece of worm on the hook. Nevertheless the bloody Minnows still had a go at it until it reached dead bottom. I soon had a 8oz Eel in the landing net and after some arm to arm combat ended up in the keep net. I was worried about the hook length as it had roughed up a bit and should have changed it, but I didn’t and next Eel regretted not doing so, as I broke on the next Eel – lesson learnt – doubt it. I went on to catch a couple more. I like catching Eels I especially like watching their bites develop.

 

With no Carp I weighed 6lb 10oz of Silvers for 6^th in the match and 3^rd Silvers pick up – one decent carp would have produced a double pick up, so might have bee right spending time after one – who knows!

 

The match was won by “Three Wheeler” Dyer (pictured right with the Silvers winner) with 28lb 10oz from Forth Lake peg 7. Colin caught all his Carp on maggot from his margin over maggot. Apparently Colin lost a good few.

 

The Silvers was won by “Pole Fixer” Fitchew with 9lb 1oz from peg 10 on the Second Lake. Barry caught three Bream and a few smaller fish on dead maggot over an initial bombardment of ten balls of GB. I think this approach is probably spot on as it is a shit or bust type of venue.

 

Full Result:

 

1. Colin Dyer 28-10-0 peg 7 – 4^th Lake
2. Dave Poole 20-08-0 peg 12 peg 12 – 3^rd Lake
3. John Osborne 10-03-0 peg 3 – 1^st Lake
4. Barry Fitchew 9-01-0 peg 10 – 2^nd Lake
5. Mike Jones 8-15-0 peg 15 – 2^nd Lake
6. Mike Nicholls 6-10-0 peg 16 – 3^rd Lake

 Top Silvers:

 

1. Barry Fitchew 9-01-0 peg 10 - 2^nd Lake
2. Mike Jones 8-15-0 peg 15 – 2^nd Lake
3. Mike Nicholls 6-10-0 peg 16 – 3^rd Lake

 Weigh Sheets: